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Heresy and heretics have consistently
afflicted the people of God since the time of
Cain. They are present in the New Covenant Community
(the Church). They are present in the Messianic
Jewish Movement that is part of the New Covenant
Community. It is crucial to recognize and deal
appropriately with them, or those involved in
the Messianic Jewish Community will suffer increasingly
serious consequences.
The Definitions Of Heresy And
Orthodoxy
Heresy is a very serious error
about a fundamental truth or practice of the Faith.
In 2 Peter 2:1, Simon Peter warns us that in times
past, false prophets also arose among the people,
just as there will also be false teachers among
you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies ... bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Heresy is contrasted to “orthodoxy” (from ortho,
which means straight, and doxa which means notion,
opinion or judgment). Orthodoxy means having the
right beliefs.
Heresy And Orthodoxy
The Word of God has an authoritative
system of right beliefs. It is a set of fundamental
truths that already existed in the first century.
It is the Faith (faith in this context
means essential beliefs or teachings) once
for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
It is “sound teaching” that builds up and blesses
(2 Timothy 4:3, Titus 2:1), as opposed to unhealthy
teaching that tears down and destroys. We need
to know the fundamental truths of the Faith and
stay within those God-ordained boundaries. Rabbi
Paul instructed Timothy to be constantly nourished
on the words of the Faith and of sound doctrine
(1 Timothy 4:6).
Making A Distinction Between
Heresy And Bad Teaching
Bad teaching
is not the same as heresy. Here are some examples
of bad teaching or bad practice that I would not
classify as heresy:
* Infant
baptism.
* Replacement
Theology and Amillennialism.
* Women
pastors who have authority over men.
* Mild
charismatic excess (as opposed to extreme charismatic
excess, which may be heresy).
I may
be able to have varying degrees of fellowship
and cooperative relationship with those who have
bad teaching, depending on my degree of comfort
and the kind of fellowship and cooperation involved.
A Short History Of Heresy
Heresy
is not rare or unusual. It has always plagued
the people of God. It has been with us since the
beginning. It is to be expected, especially as
we get closer to the Last Days.
Heresy In The Tenach
* Corruption
of the Word of God is perhaps the supreme weapon
of the Adversary. The first temptation was an
attack on the Word of God (Indeed, has God
said?). Twisting the Word of God is used
from that point forward to destroy human beings.
* Cain’s
false worship was the first of many heretical
religious systems.
* False
prophets were a continual problem for Israel throughout
our history.
* Deuteronomy
13: Instruction about dealing forcefully with
those who bring very serious false teaching (in
this case, worshiping other gods). Those guilty
of this heresy were to be identified and killed,
with the first stone thrown by those closest to
them. Zeal for God and truth comes before a person’s
closest relationships - brother or sister, son
or daughter, husband or wife or dearest friend.
* The
example of Balaam, who gave advice to corrupt
the faith and practice of the Jewish people (Numbers
31:16), and the commendation and reward of Pinchas
the Priest who dealt decisively with that serious
error in faith and practice.
* The
Chosen People were taught not to mix truth with
error. We had the principle of “aish zarah” -
not offering “strange fire”; the principle about
not wearing clothing made of mixed materials,
and not planting a field with different kinds
of seeds (Leviticus 19:19); the principle about
not mixing what is holy and what is unholy, what
is clean and what is unclean (see Haggai 2:10-13).
If something holy touches something unholy, it
does not become holy. But, if something unholy
touches something holy, it becomes unclean. The
general principle is that we must take decisive
action to separate ourselves from false teaching
and practice. We must not tolerate it.
* The
false teachers/priests and prophets of the corrupt
religious system of the Northern Kingdom ensured
that the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed.
* Even
though the Southern Kingdom was better than the
Northern Kingdom, false prophets also plagued
it. Jeremiah 23:9-40 is the most detailed description
of the problem of the false prophets (see also
Jeremiah 14:14 and Ezekiel 13:9).
Heresy In The New Testament Period
In many of Rabbi Paul’s letters,
he warned Christians and Messianic Jews to beware
of false teachers or from straying from the teaching
that he gave them and which they “received” (see
Acts 20:28-30, Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Corinthians
11:4, Philippians 4:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:6). In
1 Timothy 4:1, he warned about a great “falling
away” from the Faith that will take place in the
Last Days. Many will pay attention to deceitful
spirits and doctrines of demons. Peter and Jude
also warn about false teachers and prophets. John
warns about false prophets in Revelation and in
1 John. 4:1. Do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits (religious teachers) to
see whether they are from God, because many false
prophets have gone out into the world. Messiah
warned against false prophets and false messiahs
who would come and mislead many, especially as
we get closer to the Last Days (Matthew 24).
Heresies In The Early Church
The issues of the deity of the
Messiah and the Trinity were prominent in the
early Church. Since heresies tend to be repeated,
we should learn from history and the decisions
of the early councils and creeds what Messiah’s
Holy Community considered to be heresy - especially
regarding the truths about the deity of the Messiah
and the Trinity.
Roman Catholicism’s View Of The
“Protestant Heresy”
Well into the 20th
century, Catholics defined Protestants as heretics.
After Vatican II the Catholic Church tends not
to refer to Protestantism as a heresy, even if
the teachings of Protestantism are heretical from
a Catholic perspective. Instead, the Catholic
Church refers to Protestants as "separated
brothers". Some of the doctrines of Protestantism
that the Catholic Church considers heretical are
the very teachings that Protestants believe are
of vital importance: that the Bible is the only
source and rule of faith; that faith alone and
not works can lead to salvation; and that there
is not a special priesthood attained by human
ordination, but rather a universal priesthood
of all believers that has been ordained by God.
Protestantism And The Catholic
Heresy
Many prominent
earlier Protestants referred to Catholicism as
heresy, and as part of the Great Apostasy, and
to the Pope as the anti-Christ. I stand with the
early Protestants in declaring Catholicism as
heresy for the following reasons: Catholic teaching
does not preach the pure Gospel - the simple Message
that placing our trust in Yeshua the Messiah will
save us. It contradicts the plain teaching of
Scripture, that we are saved by God’s grace, not
through any of our own human efforts, when we
put our faith in Messiah Yeshua alone (see Ephesians
2:8-9). Instead, it has substituted an adulterated
system of sacraments, man-made traditions and
human efforts through which salvation is allegedly
dispensed.
In addition,
the Roman Catholic Church has arrogantly declared
the bishop of Rome to be the infallible leader
of the entirety of Messiah’s Holy Community of
Jews and Gentiles. For centuries the Roman Catholic
Church persecuted the true Christians; engaged
in systematic and deliberate torture, murder,
and even genocide. For centuries it was the most
anti-Semitic institution on Earth. It has added
to the Word of God by acknowledging the Apocrypha
as part of the Holy Scriptures. It has added to
the Word of God by elevating Catholic tradition,
laws and decrees to the same status as the Word
of God! There is no Scriptural support for traditions
and practices such as the sacrifice of the Mass,
purgatory, transubstantiation, prayers and masses
and other rituals for the dead, indulgences, the
worship of Mary, prayers to the saints, the use
of images in worship, holy water, rosary beads
and scapulars, a Roman Catholic priesthood, the
demand of celibacy from these priests and nuns,
and confession to priests to obtain absolution.
All this adds up to “Another Gospel” - a Gospel
that is foreign, even hostile to the simple Good
News Message about having saving faith in the
Messiah.
I do not
believe that the Protestant Reformation was a
mistake. Roman Catholicism is a heretical religious
system. The Catholic Church has not reformed any
of the false teachings since the beginning of
the Reformation. I recommend that Protestants
who refuse to acknowledge the ongoing validity
of the Protestant Reformation, and the crucial
issues involved that separate Roman Catholicism
from Evangelicals, should be avoided.
Other Groups That Protestants
Should Consider Heretical:
* Jehovah’s
Witnesses.
* Mormons.
* Seventh
Day Adventists.
* Theological
Liberalism, because it denies the inerrancy of
the Scriptures, which destroys the Faith - as
the last 80 years have amply proved.
* Those
who embrace the acceptability of homosexuality
as a legitimate lifestyle, especially those approving
of active homosexuals in “Christian ministry”.
* Political/Moral
Heresies: Those who are pro-abortion or who vote
for pro-abortion candidates. I would withhold
communion from pro-abortion politicians who claim
to be Christians. If pushed, I would do the same
for those who vote for pro-abortion politicians,
since they are “anti-Hurs” and “anti-Aarons” who
hold up the killers-of-humans-in-the-womb’s bloody
hands.
Orthodox Judaism And Heresy
Just
as Roman Catholicism has seriously deviated from
many fundamental truths of the Faith, and should
be considered to be heretical, so has “Orthodox”
Judaism. Ironically, many of the teachings
that Orthodox Judaism views as heresy are essential
teaching of the true Faith! Moses Maimonides'
“13 Principles of Faith” (listed below) are generally
considered to be a good summary of Orthodox Jewish
belief.
1. I believe
with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be
His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything
that has been created; He alone has made, does
make, and will make all things.
2. I believe
with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be
His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in
any manner like His, and that He alone is our
God, who was, and is, and will be.
3. I believe
with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be
His Name, has no body, and that He is free from
all the properties of matter, and that there can
be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
4. I believe
with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be
His Name, is the first and the last.
5. I believe
with perfect faith that to the Creator, blessed
be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to
pray, and that it is not right to pray to any
being besides Him.
6. I believe
with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets
are true.
7. I believe
with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses
our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and
that he was the chief of the prophets, both those
who preceded him and those who followed him.
8. I believe
with perfect faith that the entire Torah that
is now in our possession is the same that was
given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
9. I believe
with perfect faith that this Torah will not be
exchanged, and that there will never be any other
Torah from the Creator, blessed be His Name.
10. I
believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed
be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings
and all their thoughts, as it is written, "who
fashioned the hearts of them all, who comprehends
all their actions" (Psalm 33:15).
11. I
believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed
be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments
and punishes those that transgress them.
12. I
believe with perfect faith in the coming of the
Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless,
I wait every day for his coming.
13. I
believe with perfect faith that there will be
a revival of the dead at the time when it shall
please the Creator, blessed be His name, and His
mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
Orthodox
Judaism considers those who deny these principles
of faith and rabbinic teaching authority to be
heretics. Orthodox Judaism considers Reconstructionist,
Reform and Conservative Judaisms to be heretical
and not true Judaism. Therefore the belief
or hope that Messianic Jews will ever be religiously
acceptable to Orthodox Jews who are serious about
their anti-Messiah, anti-Trinitarian, anti-New
Covenant Faith is extremely naive.
Who Gets To Decide What Is Heresy?
The Lord has given the God-ordained
leaders of the Messianic Community who are holding
to sound doctrine the authority (“binding and
loosing”) to make these determinations. A church
or denomination that has right doctrine can declare
a teaching or an individual or movement to be
heretical. In my opinion, the God-appointed leaders
of an individual community can also declare something
to be heretical.
Common Excuses To Avoid Dealing
With Heresy
Excuse:
Most modern theologians don’t like to use the
term heresy. Those accused of heresy have been
dealt with too harshly in the past. Those accused
of heresy have not always been heretics. In this
age of tolerance, the term should be used sparingly.
Heresy is a rare and unusual occurrence.
Response:
It is not rare or unusual. In an overly tolerant
society, the natural tendency is to minimize the
seriousness of doctrinal deviation and not confront
heresy. On the surface, it may appear more spiritual
to be non-confrontational, but there is nothing
spiritual about avoiding correcting serious error
in faith and practice. Since there is a core set
of sound doctrines, when someone is doing or believing
something that is seriously in error, the right
and loving thing to do is admonish, rebuke and
correct him. Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs
27:6). The excesses and errors of the past should
not deter us from dealing with heresy now.
Excuse:
The leaders of a large organization haven’t made
an official decision that something is heresy,
therefore it can’t be heresy.
Response:
Of course it can be heresy! Orthodoxy is orthodoxy
and heresy is heresy - independent of what men
may think. Leaders can be cowardly, lethargic,
themselves compromised or in error. Due to ignorance,
ambition, politics, misplaced loyalties, friendships,
shared grievances, financial considerations, blackmail,
or other reasons, leaders might remain silent
when they should speak out about heresy. If the
gatekeepers, the religious leaders in positions
of authority, are unwilling to take decisive action
and confront heresy, God may raise up an individual,
like a Luther, to do so.
How To Deal With Heresy
* Have
the right attitude toward heresy. Be willing to
deal with it. I am a contrarian. My orientation
is that the majority is frequently wrong. The
spirit of the post-modern age is a rejection of
absolutes, a twisted kind of tolerance. This is
infecting the Church. The Church is not of this
world. In certain ways it should be counter-cultural.
If the culture stresses a perverted kind of tolerance,
we should emphasize standards, absolutes, sound
doctrine, heresy.
* We need
to realize the seriousness of heresy. Truth and
salvation go together, just as serious error and
damnation go together. If the truth sets you free
and saves you, then serious error keeps you enslaved
and helps damn you. In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter warned
that just as false prophets arose among the Jewish
people, there would also be false teachers who
would arise among the New Covenant Community,
who would secretly introduce destructive
heresies, bringing swift destruction
upon themselves. John declared that anyone
who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching
of Messiah, does not have God; the one who abides
in the teaching, he has both the Father and the
Son (2 John 1:9).
* Heresy
needs to be actively confronted. It is the
responsibility of the gatekeepers of the Faith
to be involved in holding fast the faithful
word which is in accordance with the teaching,
so that he will be able both to exhort in sound
doctrine and to refute those who contradict
(Titus 1:9). We don’t ignore heresy. We don’t
keep silent about it. Erroneous teaching and practice,
if not directly confronted, spreads. A little
leaven eventually leavens the whole batch. In
a fallen world corrupted by evil, organized systems
need to protect themselves or they will sicken
and die. The financial system needs a Security
and Exchange Commission. Those involved in the
production and delivery of food and drugs need
an FDA. The human body needs to protect itself
from attack (immune system, white blood cells),
the political body needs to protect itself from
attack (laws and the criminal justice system),
and the Body of Messiah needs to protect itself
from the attack of heretics (religious laws and
religious courts).
The
apostles and the inspired writers of the New Testament
boldly spoke out against false teachers and teachings,
and so should we. "Teachers of false
doctrine are referred to in the New Testament
as heretics, false prophets, ravening and grievous
wolfs, vain talkers and deceivers, false apostles,
deceitful workers, ministers of Satan following
his example in fashioning themselves as ministers
of righteousness, vessels for dishonor, men who
by their smooth and flattering speech deceive
the hearts of the unsuspecting. Believers are
instructed to beware of them, avoid them, purge
their assemblies of them, refuse them, stop their
mouths, rebuke them sharply, separate themselves
from them, count them as accursed, not receiving
them into their houses and giving them no greeting"
(based on The Duty Of Intolerance and taken
from The Eastern Methodist, an early 20th
century publication for sound teaching in the
Methodist denomination).
* We need
to identify those who are corrupting the truth
and avoid them. If anyone comes to you and
does not bring this teaching, do not receive him
into your house, and do not give him a greeting;
for the one who gives him a greeting participates
in his evil deeds (2 John 1:10-11). Those
who are advocating heresy should be marginalized,
not promoted. We should not publish their articles
or books or have them speak at our conferences
or symposiums or yeshivahs or seminaries.
* Heretical
leaders are not only to be avoided, but also to
be publically exposed. The nature of their sin
is public, and therefore it must be publically
exposed. Hymenaeus and Philetus were named as
men who went astray from the truth (2 Timothy
2:18). Demas is named as someone who loved this
present world and deserted Paul (2 Timothy 4:10).
Alexander the coppersmith harmed Paul, and Timothy
was told to be on guard against him (2 Timothy
4:14-15). Dealing with the doctrinal sins of heretics
is not the same as dealing with those who sin
against us individually. It is not always possible
to go directly to them first and have a meeting
with them, explaining their errors. That does
not mean that we are obligated to remain silent
until we have personally gone to them to confront
them. If their false teaching is in the public
domain, then it is fair to deal with their false
teachings in public.
Is A Heretic Headed To Hell?
Will someone who is involved
in heresy miss out on salvation? He may or may
not. I don’t know. I do know that our responsibility
is to relate to them by identifying them, exposing
them and avoiding them.
Dealing With The Next Degree
If we identify someone or some
teaching as being heretical, and we avoid and
expose them, what do we do if other congregations
or organizations or friends won’t do the same?
Do we extend the ban to them? There are no easy
answers, so each one needs to make their own determination.
Current Heresies Affecting The
Messianic Jewish Movement
* Those
who deny the Trinity or deny the deity of the
Messiah. One way of denying the Trinity is by
accepting Modalism, also known as the “Oneness”
doctrine, an ancient heresy that denies that the
One God has always existed as Three Persons. Modalism
teaches that the Son and the Spirit are mere emanations
or modes or expressions of God, but not persons.
But the Son of God is a person. The Spirit does
not have a body, but He does have all the essential
elements of a person - mind, emotion and will.
Only a few who have some connection to the Messianic
Jewish movement deny the Trinity.
* Those
who acknowledge the legitimacy of Roman Catholicism,
even though it is a heretical religious system.
Mark Kinzer is guilty of this serious error (along
with other errors). For this reason alone, Kinzer
should be avoided, along with the organizations
in which he is acknowledged as a leader, including
the Hashivenu organization, the Messianic Jewish
Theological Institute - and while it grieves me
to include it - the Union of Messianic Jewish
Congregations.
* Those
who are guilty of extreme Prosperity Teaching.
Several years ago, the MJAA had T.D. Jakes as
the keynote speaker at a conference. Allowing
Jakes to speak was a mistake since, besides being
a corrupt prosperity teacher, Jakes embraces the
"Oneness" doctrine (which denies the
Trinity).
* The
Wider Hope and its variations: The false teaching
that Jewish people don’t need to personally believe
in Yeshua in order to be saved; the Two-Covenant
theological error (God has an older covenant with
the Jewish people that will save us, and He has
the New Covenant with the Church that will save
the Church); the “Unconscious Christian” teaching
(the false teaching that people might not believe
in the Messiah, or might deny Him, and yet be
saved. They are [allegedly] Christians, but just
don’t know it!); the Unrecognized Mediation of
Messiah (the bizarre idea that Messiah is functioning
within the house of Israel as our unrecognized
High Priest, drawing non-Messianic Jews closer
to God, and God closer to non-Messianic Jews.
The reality is that Messiah taught that the majority’s
rejection of Him caused Him to be outside the
camp, and our house would remain desolate until
the nation turns to Him with repentance and personal
faith.); Universalism (the obviously false teaching
that everyone will be saved).
These
heretical teachings ignore the Biblical doctrine
of total depravity - the teaching that because
of the Fall, sin has thoroughly impacted every
area of who we are. The rebellion of Adam and
Eve corrupted them and all of their descendants
- Gentiles and Jews. Sin and disobedience and
rebellion have affected every aspect of who we
are - body, soul and spirit; mind, emotion and
will. We have been corrupted morally, spiritually,
mentally and sexually (see Romans 3:9-20). Sin
has damaged our relationships with nature and
with one another. Humanity’s most important relationship
- with our Creator - has been ruined. Jews and
Gentiles are alienated from the One who is the
Source of life and goodness. It is only through
the proclamation of the Good News about the Messiah
and a personal faith response that Jews and Gentiles
are born-again, given new life, receive the Holy
Spirit and enter the Kingdom of God. Again, Mark
Kinzer has been the theological thought-leader
in advocating variations of the Wider Hope. Therefore
he should be avoided - along with individuals
and organizations that support him.
* Galatians
Revisited, Legalism, Judaizing, Converting Gentiles
into Messianic Jews (demanding that Gentiles live
like Torah-observant Jews under the Sinai Covenant);
the bizarre Two-House error (teaching non-Jews
that they are part of the alleged Ten Lost Tribes
and therefore need to live like Torah-observant
Jews under the Sinai Covenant. This is one of
the more widespread and growing errors in the
Messianic Jewish movement today. For more information,
see the article called Dispensationalism
at www.shema.com/marticles/marticles-016.php).
Sadly, the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
at first came out against conversion of Gentiles
into Messianic Jews, but more recently have allowed
their members to teach and practice this serious
and destructive error. Therefore the Union of
Messianic Congregations should be avoided.
* Undermining
the Scriptures by denying the doctrine of Inerrancy
(the teaching that the original manuscripts of
the Bible are divinely inspired and accurate).
This has destroyed the mainstream Protestant churches.
Again, Mark Kinzer is guilty of this serious error,
and for this reason, Kinzer should be avoided
- along with his previously mentioned supporters.
* Serious
Error With Ecclesiology (Ecclesiology is the teaching
about Messiah’s Holy Community): They are in serious
error who - refuse to identify with the Evangelical
Church, and who by faith, practice and attitude
want to be segregated from the Evangelical Church;
who advocate that Messianic Jews find their truest
identity in the non-Messianic Jewish Community
rather than the New Covenant Community (we
are part of both, and should want to be part of
both, but the reality is that if we are bold and
faithful, we will be excluded from the majority
of the non-Messianic Jewish community. That
is a price that we must be willing to pay. We
must have a “go outside the camp bearing His reproach”
attitude); who acknowledge non-Messianic Jewish
rabbinic authority as authoritative, even though
the Supreme Authority, Rabbi Yeshua, the King
of Israel and the Lord of the Messianic Community,
explicitly transferred spiritual authority to
the leaders of the New Covenant Community (see
Luke 20:9-18, and the authority to “bind and loose”);
who are telling Messianic Jews to leave Messianic
Jewish congregations and go to non-Messianic synagogues!
Sadly, it seems that in Israel, Zvi Sadan is moving
in this destabilizing and destructive direction.
For More Information
For
more information see Very Serious Problems
with the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations,
at www.shema.com/articles/articles-099.php;
see also As Sure As Hell at www.shema.com/marticles/marticles-015.php.
For a devastating critique of some of these false
teachings, see Dr. Michael Brown’s paper, Is
A Postmissionary, Truly Messianic Judaism Possible?
(www.lcje.net/papers/2007/Brown.doc).
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